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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: prune · swing · court · firm · band · field · hand · net

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. net — in sport
  3. net — for catching
  4. court — for sport
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. hand — in cards
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. field — a subject
  9. prune — to trim
  10. firm — steady
  11. swing — in golf
  12. court — of a king
  13. band — a music group
  14. court — of law
  15. hand — help
  16. field — farmland
  17. swing — music
  18. swing — to play on
  19. firm — a company
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. prune — to trim
  22. field — for sport
  23. band — a ring
  24. firm — decided

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com